Fox/Magnite Deal Latest Example Of Growing Trend

Ask anyone in the TV ad business what their biggest problem with streaming TV (aka “CTV”, fka “OTT”) TV is, and the answer is most likely “complexity.”

That seems to be a universal complaint about streaming advertising which, with its multiple levels of ad tech players and aggregators that sit between the advertiser and the programmers, can often feel like a scenario out of Joseph Heller’s Catch 22.

This is especially true for those who come from a traditional television background where there is but one measurement service, inventory is largely sold directly during the spring upfronts and everything seems designed for maximum efficiency.

The situation is, at many levels, not all that surprising. Most nascent industries go through a period where multiple players are vying for market share—generally a period of massive growth and innovation—followed by a maturing of the market marked by a period of streamlining.

The telecom industry is a prime example of this: after the break-up of AT&T in the 1980s, there were dozens of small regional phone companies. The introduction of mobile created even more opportunity (not to mention confusion) as did the ability of telecom companies to offer high speed broadband.

What followed, however, was a period of massive consolidation, so that we are now down to just three phone companies. Which, it should be noted, is still better than just one phone company.

Something similar is going on with TV ad tech right now, with major media companies striking deals with different ad tech companies in order to simplify the various processes and make them more attractive to linear TV advertisers.

One area the major media companies (the ones with roots in broadcast and cable) have been looking at is how to streamline their ad sales process. This is a bigger problem for them than for streaming-only players, as they have inventory all across the ecosystem, from linear to streaming, and, as a result, their offering often includes a number of different streaming services.

All of which is a long-winded way of explaining why the deal announced this week between FOXFOXA
and leading SSP (supply side platform) Magnite, is very much in keeping with this trend.

The deal makes Magnite the sole launch partner (e.g. seller) of FOX’s OneFOX platform which allows advertisers to buy across all of FOX’s various streaming properties, the key property being Tubi, their FAST (free ad-supported streaming TV) aggregator service and linchpin of their current streaming strategy.

The upside for advertisers is that they will, via Magnite, be able to create a simple and unified plan for all their private marketplace (PMP) and programmatic guaranteed campaigns across the entire FOX streaming portfolio, which includes services like FOX Weather as well as Tubi.

The deal also makes it easier for advertisers to plan, at least across FOX properties, because they are only dealing with one vendor on PMP and programmatic guaranteed campaigns. (Open programmatic is another story… as is the fact that there are three different flavors of programmatic, yet another reason why streaming can seem so complex to buyers with linear backgrounds.)

“In unifying our vast library of assets, we recognized the need to identify the right technology provider who could help deliver our premium inventory to advertisers,” said Dan Callahan, SVP Data Strategy and Sales Innovation at Fox Corporation. “Magnite’s programmatic expertise and industry-leading technology make them the perfect fit to connect buyers with FOX audiences across all our properties. We have been impressed by what Magnite has created to support our inventory monetization efforts and look forward to the growth of our relationship.”

“With OneFOX, FOX has consolidated its large audience footprint and as viewers shift to CTV and OTT, buyers have increasingly turned their attention to programmatic as a way to reach these audiences with greater efficiency,” said Mike Laband, SVP, Programmatic Platforms at Magnite. “We look forward to building out technology to support this shift and streamline access to FOX’s suite of premium inventory for advertisers.”

Making It Easy For Dollars To Follow Eyeballs

Laband’s first sentence speaks to the ultimate significance of this and similar deals: as viewers spend more and more of their TV-watching time on streaming rather than linear, ad dollars will need to follow suit. If the system continues to be overwhelmingly complex, many brands will dig in their heels and slow down the pace at which they shift their ad dollars, which ultimately makes television advertising seem less effective as ads reach fewer viewers, especially viewers in key demographics.

Thus, the more the industry is able to streamline its internal processes, the faster ad dollars will follow eyeballs to streaming. Deals like this show that there is an awareness of the issue and a desire to solve it.